#PLStories- Graham Potter on Christmas fixtures as Managers meet to discuss player welfare #BHAFC

It is more than a decade now since former Albion boss Gus Poyet told The Argus he could not understand the Christmas schedule. "I love Boxing Day but why play on the 28th?" he asked in typically animated style at the club's former training base at the University of Sussex. The answer appears pretty simple. Everyone wants a home game over Christmas, including the clubs drawn to play away on December 26. So you almost create a second Boxing Day. As it turned out, Albion won that unwanted fixture 5-2 at Wycombe with Glenn Murray scoring four times. But the bigger picture is that concerns over playing too many games persist – and are increased in current circumstances. Premier League managers and head coaches discuss player welfare today. Albion boss Graham Potter said: “Traditionally, since I’ve played, we’ve played on the 26th and the 28th. “I don’t think we’re playing any more games than that this year but what we’ve got this year is a pandemic which means the squads and players are even more under pressure. “Already you’ve got an issue and then it’s compounded by a virus that is spreading through the population quite quickly. “Then you’ve got the issues of isolation and trying to be fit. GRAHAM POTTER'S VERDICT ON 8PM BOXING DAY KICK-OFF “There is more and more pressure on the players, so in an ideal world we probably haven’t got the balance right. “But we’re not in an ideal world.” Potter has accepted the fact Albion’s appeal for a postponement versus Wolves was unsuccessful. He said: “We put the request in because we had consecutive days of Covid issues, but we had to play and you have to get on with it and deal with it. “I think everyone is trying their best in very difficult circumstances. “The way it is, sometimes it’s like a refereeing decision, it goes your way or it doesn’t. “Everybody is doing their best. “I don’t think anyone is acting without integrity, put it that way.” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been clear in his criticism of the schedule. He said: "I think it would be better with one game, absolutely, but obviously what I say is not too important. “If there are two games then we will play two games. But it would be helpful if there was only one, true.”